2023-09-06 13:03:48
Storm Daniel continues to lash Greece this Wednesday that was still recovering from the terrible fires recorded this summer. At least two people have died and three are still missing due to the torrential rains that are affecting the center of the country, with levels of rainfall never seen before.
It is a huge dana (an isolated depression at high levels) which, according to Greek meteorologists, is dropping historic levels of rainfall. In the city of Zagora, more than 500 millimeters of rain has fallen in one day, when the annual average for the city of Athens is 400 millimeters. In other words, in a single day the usual rain for a whole year has fallen.
Panagiotis Chrysalis comes to help the flooded house of a relative in the village of Nea Lefki, near Larissa
Vaggelis Kousioras / LaPresse
“It is the most extreme meteorological event in terms of rain in 24 hours since we have records in the country,” said Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias, asking people to stay at home. These are improper amounts of rain in the Mediterranean climate. In Zagorá, in the Magnesia region, the record of 75.4 liters per square meter in 24 hours has been verified, almost double the previous maximum, registered in 2009.
Worst hit so far is the port city of Volos, population 150,000, where a rancher died after a wall caved in while he was trying to feed his animals. Firefighters have had to rescue dozens of people trapped in this city with rafts where many neighborhoods are still without water or electricity. Many roads remain impassable and part of the hospital has even been flooded. The water has also destroyed a bridge and caused landslides.
A road destroyed by floods in Volos
STRINGER / AFP
Footage from Greek national television shows cars swept up in the mud in the city, and another man is still missing after his vehicle was swept away by a stream in Ayios Georgios. His son was able to get out, but his father was trapped and they are still looking for him. The other deceased person is an elderly woman whose body was recovered under a pile of logs in the center of the country.
This Wednesday attention is focused on the cities of Trikala and Karditsa, where the storm is headed, which could intensify in central Greece. It all happens a few days after Greek firefighters managed to control the Evros fire, the worst recorded in Europe, and one of the hundreds of fires that have devastated much of the country this summer. The rains have also affected northwestern Turkey, where at least five people have died from flooding.
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